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War on Black Money: Sorry, no change, say pharmacists and hospitals

Hospitals and pharmacies turn patients away citing lack of cash, others appeal to the government for exemptions.

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Queue outside medical store in Parel, Mumbai.
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In his announcement of the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the public hospitals and pharmacies would continue to accept the now banned notes. However, there was no word on what private pharmacies must do, a course of action seems to have been left to their discretion.

“We are accepting the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes but we have no change left to return to the customers,” said the pharmacist at Liberto pharmacy in Airoli, Navi Mumbai. He added that they are not even insisting on prescription for the over the counter drugs but were hassled as several customers headed to them with high denomination notes.

The central government had on Tuesday night said that all the public hospitals will continue to accept Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes for the next 72 hours.

In Mumbai, all the civic hospitals were instructed to accept notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 but it was not smooth sailing. The problems surfaced early on in the day. “While we have told our treasury department to accept the notes, we don’t have the change to return back to the patients. There are patients who are giving Rs 500 for a fee of Rs 20,” said Dr. Avinash Supe, Dean, KEM hospital and Director, Medical Education.  Many patients were being turned away across civic hospitals for non-emergency procedures because of this.

With banks and ATMs being shut, there were reports of several local pharmacies refusing to accept the high denomination notes as many residents rushed to them.

Meanwhile, Mumbai’s Bhatia hospital has petitioned to the Prime Minister to extend the 72-hour relaxation to the charitable hospitals as well. “Our patients who are in the process of being discharged insist on paying cash as many of them don’t have credit/debit cards. Moreover, accepting cheque is a risky proposition for the hospital as we have faced many cases in past where a cheque has been dishonoured,” said Dr. Rajeev Baudhankar, CEO, Bhatia Hospital. 

E-pharmacies too expected their cash on delivery services to be hit. While most customers tend to use pre-paid methods like cards and mobile wallets, a sizeable number does pay in cash. “75% of our customers tend to use prepaid methods but since this is a temporary ban we not expecting a lot of difference. It is too early to comment on the effect that it will cause,” said Pradeep Dadha, founder and CEO of Netmeds.com that has a presence in 700 cities and towns across the country. He believed that pharmacies that accept cards are unlikely to be hit massively.

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